


How Many Dreams I've Dreamed of You

by Nifflers_and_Crookshanks



Series: It's Been A Long, Long Time [2]
Category: Agent Carter (TV), Captain America (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Avengers: Endgame (Movie) Compliant, Avengers: Endgame (Movie) Spoilers, F/M, I Had To, It's Been A Long Long Time inspired, Steggy - Freeform, i fell of my seat in the cinema
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-05-03
Updated: 2019-05-03
Packaged: 2020-02-16 11:14:28
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,130
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18690367
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Nifflers_and_Crookshanks/pseuds/Nifflers_and_Crookshanks
Summary: Peggy Carter gets her dance with the right partner.





	How Many Dreams I've Dreamed of You

It is a dream. Bathed in the golden glow of the afternoon sun and slowly turning to a soft song, it is surely a dream.

They had sat down at her kitchen table, talking as the tea grew cold, and with clasped hands he’d relayed to her an impossible story. There was seven decades in ice and a whole new world after a long sleep. There were things she did not understand, gods and aliens, robots, machines and genetic mutations far more catastrophic than his. It’s an epic tale, worthy of one of her brother’s old science fiction novels, with assassins and kings intermingling with super soldiers, warriors with robot armour and guardians from space. Epic and at times absurd and God help her she believes him, she believes all of it.

“You came back,” Peggy had said numbly, unsure of what else to say. After all his tragedies and hardships, after all his sacrifices and battles he had found his way back to her.

“I had a date,” Steve answered. A promise of a dance made hot on the heels of a desperate kiss. “Couldn’t leave my best girl without showing up,”

She had cautiously, almost gingerly, reached her hands across the table to brush his when they noticed the radio playing. Peggy had left it on as background noise for work, but the news programme had changed and now crooning songs could be heard emitting from the forgotten instrument.

“We’re a little late,” She said and paused to gauge his reaction, “By a few years,”

“I did try, but it’s not an exact science,” He gestured to the thin watch-like contraption on his wrist, pumped full of a particle yet to be discovered.

“The offer still stands,” Her heart skipped a beat as his eyes met hers. “If you’d like,”

“I’d like that,”

What compelled her to find it Peggy could not say, but something in her mind had told her it would be wrong without. She excused herself as he began to shift through her vinyl records. She had bought the lavish red years ago, at the very beginning of the war and even then such a luxury was considered extravagant. The lush fabric had always clung to her in a special way and she had donned it one night with the seduction of Captain America in mind. She had always imagined she’d wear it again, some other time. She wanted to dance with him in it in happier times. She had never dreamed she might have that chance again and as soon as she entered the living room Peggy knew she had made the right decision.

He found the record with ease, a song that had chased them both though in different times. For Peggy it had taunted her in the wake of victory, a ballad to welcome home solider loves, but hers was not among the boys that returned. For Steve he was introduced to it after sifting through thrift stores, a box of old numbers of the American song book gifting him something new and yet still familiar enough to be reassuring in a time full of electronic noises and strange lyrics. Hearing the sound of heels on the wood floor, he turned to see her standing in the door way. She was a vision in red, vermilion lips and scarlet dress so very her it made his heart ache and more than ever Steve thanked the serum for the simple pleasures it had given him, the ability to see the vibrant colours that were Peggy Carter.

“Something slow,” He had murmured, hand extended, and Peggy had laughed through her tears as their fingers entwined.

He had drawn her into his hold so smoothly it felt surreal. Everything about the day had felt surreal since he arrived on her porch, brandishing a compass from the bottom of the ocean, but it was the elegance of his movements that took her breath away. The warmth of the hand on her waist, the unspoken strength of his arms as he held her… Peggy did not suppress the smile it drew from her; being in his embrace.

She does not dare to close her eyes until his scent encompasses her, familiar and comforting despite the years, and relishes the feeling of the solid press of his back beneath her fingertips. Her heart is swelling within her chest, ready to burst, and if it weren’t for his steady hold her knees might have given in already. Steve, however, does not share her flustered state. His heartbeat is slow and gradual, his breathing the ebb and flow of the tide. He is at peace with the love of his life in his arms.

Steve has dreamed of this moment before, three thousand times over. He had thought of her brown eyes and their sparkle, the gentle curve of red lips and the flutter of dark eyelashes. He had thought of her dress, that dress, and the sheer magnetic confidence she always projected that seemed to be magnified by the way it draped over her. He had thought of the gentle hum of a slow song, the playful shuffle of feet and even the good natured laughs they might share if he truly did step on her toes. Nothing does it justice. Not a single dream comes close to the feeling of complete and utter serenity he finds with her. After ten years lost he is found and can finally rest, eyes falling shut half a turn before Peggy’s own do. She is finally satisfied that he will not disappear beneath her hands as so many dreamed shadows have.

There is a slight breeze that enters through the window along with the afternoon sunlight, but the couple do not notice. They continue to sway, the only two people left in the world.

His lips are pressed to her forehead the next time he speaks, eyes closed as he revels in the scent of her perfume and her hair.

“Marry me,”

He hears her heartbeat quicken, but it is her head coming to rest on his shoulder and her arms tightening about him that is an answer in itself.

“Yes, my darling,” She murmurs, eyes opening to drink in their little world once more. They turn ever so slightly, and it is only now she wonders where he learnt to dance. She smiles again and closes her eyes, joy washing over her again.

Steve draws away from her, his smile undeniable, and if she is surprised by the gentle nudge of his nose against hers Peggy does not show it. She shares his grin, lips finding his, and he his home. The war is finally over and he can come home.

After so many years it is no longer a dream. 


End file.
